Alison L. Morris

Reading enthusiast, idea machine, kids & YA book buyer for @FirstBook - committed to boosting book access/affordability/diversity. Opinions are my own. She/her.

[Alison L. Morris @AlisonLMorris]

@dsantat Woohoo! Looking forward to seeing you both in DC and/or TKPK! (@bottomshelfbks we drove by your old house twice yesterday! 😭)

[E Train Talks Books @ETrainsWorld]

#Bookmail is the best! Thank you @FirstBook
for offering the one-and-only #author legend @rickriordan’s #MGLit DAUGHTER OF THE DEEP! With the help of everyone who contributed to my #fundraiser I purchased 3 boxes of this AMAZING #story to share with #students at schools across my community in need of #reads! I’m beyond grateful!

#literacyandjusticeforall
#literacyadvocate
#endbookdeserts
#daughterofthedeep
#nonprofit #givingtuesdayspark
@GivingTuesday

[Alison L. Morris @AlisonLMorris]

@DanielNayeri @mcrockefeller HOLY COW THIS COVER!! I can't wait to read it!

[Alison L. Morris @AlisonLMorris]

@chavelaque @abramskids @juanamedina Gaaaah! Dream team and a dream cover! I can't wait to read it. Congrats to wonderful you and to the wonderful @juanamedina !

[Alison L. Morris @AlisonLMorris]

@jenthermes @BankStreetLib @GalltZacker @AgentZacker Yaaaaaaay!!! That book is worthy of medals!

[Saadia Faruqi @SaadiaFaruqi]

📣 Teachers and librarians! Now scheduling FREE virtual visits to talk about my new MG novel, which @KirkusReviews called "powerful and timely" and @sljournal called "heartwarming" ⬇️

[Alison L. Morris @AlisonLMorris]

Grateful to have been given the opportunity to reengage my blogging "pen" 🤔 after 13 years away. Thank you, @PWKidsBookshelf, for opening this door to me at a pivotal point in my career!

[PWKidsBookshelf is now on Bluesky @PWKidsBookshelf]

Forever Shelf Talking: Our ShelfTalker blog's original blogger, Alison Morris, reflects on the bookselling blog's 16 years https://t.co/7XOUPdocAV

[Dan Wuori @DanWuori]

It’s NEVER too soon to begin reading to your baby. ⏰

In fact, doing so while your little one is still in utero will begin familiarizing your soon-to-be newborn with the voices of the adults who will comprise their “circle of trust” after birth.

Once your baby is born, reading together daily will expose them to rich vocabulary, concepts of print, and to establish reading as both important and pleasurable… all key to their early academic success.

I got such a kick out of this little one.

It’s clear not only that her parents read to her regularly, but do so with real enthusiasm and expression.

What a great feeling it must be for them to watch her mimic their tender moments together.

This emergent reader was shared to IG by kidsfam8.

[Alison L. Morris @AlisonLMorris]

So excited that we're able to give away reading buddies to up to 6,000 educators (!) at #NCTE23, and you don't have to be a Title I teacher to qualify! ALL EDUCATORS, come by booth 900 at some point during the show to meet some of our @FirstBook team and pick up your bear!

[National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) @ncte]

Will you be at #NCTE23 this week? Visit @FirstBook at booth 900 to get a free teddy bear reading buddy and learn about their inspiring work with @buildabear Foundation and the Busload of Books.

[Alison L. Morris @AlisonLMorris]

@dsantat OVER THE MOON FOR YOU!!! Congratulations!!

[Renée Watson @reneewauthor]

✨COVER REVEAL✨
Excited to share TWO new covers!
My next picture book, SUMMER IS HERE, a love letter to the summer season, celebrates the iconic childhood joys with bright, sun-drenched art from Bea Jackson. Available 5/724
@BloomsburyPub #SummerIsHere #WritingForBlackGirls

[Jacqueline Woodson @JackieWoodson]

Grateful to the @washingtonpost for giving space and voice to what's happening. And so incredibly grateful for teachers like Mary Wood (They are Everywhere). Let's keep them in our prayers, our 'good trouble' struggle, AND our classrooms. https://t.co/H4QXetau67

[Jacqueline Woodson @JackieWoodson]

The first time I met an author, my life was changed forever. Join me on Oct. 3rd. Bring your students, your churchfolk, your niblings, your questions. Bring a hundred people. Or just yourself.
#GRA23 #GRAJackie Register here: https://t.co/X8KuJOs1hN

[We Need Diverse Books @diversebooks]

Win classroom sets of our 2022 & 2023 Walter Award winners! Every year we hold our Walter Dean Myers Awards to celebrate excellence in diverse children's literature—and donate copies of the winning titles to schools and libraries.

Educators, enter now: https://t.co/NtTw30nPGU

[Dan Wuori @DanWuori]

This tweet might be the most important one I’ve shared.

Because I often post about child development, I’m fielding a growing number of questions from parents and teachers about specific developmental concerns.

Here’s my very best advice:

First, if you have a concern about your child’s development, speak to your pediatrician ASAP. This is such an important relationship to establish and your doctor is the only one qualified to offer specific advice/diagnoses about your child.

Second, know that every state has a federally-funded early intervention system designed to support the needs of children ages birth-3 with disabilities and/or developmental delays.

If you have ANY concern at all about your child’s development, have them screened. It’s COMPLETELY FREE - and if they qualify for services, those will be free too.

Young children develop on their own unique timelines. And in most cases your concern won’t be warranted. But if a delay is identified, the faster you address it the better - and the greater the likelihood that professionals can intervene and get your child back on the right trajectory.

So don’t wait. And if your child doesn’t qualify but your concern persists, get screened again. And again.

See the tweet below for more information on how to access your state’s early intervention system.

And share this information with all the new parents you know.

[Dan Wuori @DanWuori]

Want to see something cool? Check out the process this little one uses to find the color blue.

Russian psychologist and learning theorist Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) helped us to envision three distinct phases of knowledge/ability:

At one end of this continuum are the things we don’t yet know (or can’t yet do).

At the other end are those things we know/can do independently.

Between these two extremes, Vygotsky envisioned a fertile, middle ground - the Zone of Proximal Development - where we can find success with just right level of support. It’s here where learning (and, accordingly, all the best instruction) occurs.

In this particular case, the support in question is not from a parent or teacher, but a mental tool.

Watch as our hero uses her (more solid) knowledge of other colors to help eliminate possibilities… and her joyful spark of recognition when she discovers the blue marker on her own.

Soon she’ll be able to name blue as effortlessly as the others. Pretty cool, huh?

🎥 of this amazing little scientist via lindsaydavisknotts on IG.

[Alison L. Morris @AlisonLMorris]

@LibraryLydia I LOVE THIS SO MUCH! Her smile says everything!

[Alison L. Morris @AlisonLMorris]

@vanggarrett1 @emilyreads @garethhinds @MarcTNobleman @FirstBook @HarperCollins @HarperChildrens @HarperStacks @versifybooks @penguinrandom @charlesbridge Van, it was so fantastic meeting you! I was just telling my @FirstBook colleagues how awesome it was to realize you'd written two of our favorite new books!

[Elizabeth Blye @MsBlyereads]

Huge thanks to @FirstBook for making sure books like @TorreyMaldonado’s #HANDS & soooo many others at are available at affordable prices so educators can ensure kids have access to them & for all the other incredible resources you provide to educators! It means the world!

[Alison L. Morris @AlisonLMorris]

Love this poster design by @OliverJeffers . I'm now going to look at every street corner as the spot where the pages meet in one big open book. (The gutter beside the gutter?)

[Brooklyn Book Festival @BKBF]

We are so excited to announce that @OliverJeffers has designed our 2023 Brooklyn Book Festival poster!

This beautiful poster will be in libraries and independent bookstores throughout Brooklyn soon. It will also be available for purchase during the festival!